Wednesday, 6 January 2016

For a long time I've been using an old London taxi as a daily driver. The old Nissan 2.7 engine has proved ultra reliable but the bodywork has needed welding constantly.

I started a taxi owners forum for other owners of these old vehicles and found there are examples of these cars all over the world.Few are now used as fare carrying vehicles and many were scrapped when the British government and the idiot of a London mayor (Boris Johnson) decided they polluted too much yet replaced them with taxis using the same nissan diesel engine.

Spares are slowly becoming a problem. Most body parts are now unobtainable although most are relatively simple and can be patched with welding. The servicing items are still easy to source as are tyres as these were carried over to the later models.

As with any diesel engined vehicle starting in cold weather requires a strong battery and these are fitted with a seriously large one under the bonnet.Taxis have a weird electric lock system that locks the doors automatically when the foot brake is applied,this prevent passengers in the back (there is no front seat and the back is partitioned off seperately from the front) from hopping out as the taxi stops and thus avoid paying the driver. The rear doors are the 'suicide' type with the added bonus that the driver can put his hnd out of his window and open the rear door without leaving his seat. You can see this on many old films based in london or some of the larger UK cities.

About this blog.

My interests are old tools,old cars and vans.I sell tools by mail order all over the world, for vintage,veteran and collectable cars,motorcycles and old machinery for a living.

I live in the UK and enjoy car shows and auctions and can often be found wandering around autojumbles,swap meets and car boot sales looking for old and interesting car related items to collect or repair.

As well as selling on the internet with my store called "Baconsdozen Imperial Tools" I sell and buy tools,car spares etc on ebay and at markets.